The Big Indie Playlist: this week’s best new music
Another week, another great batch of new music. Each new seven-day period comes with its own fun challenges in compiling the best new songs: some weeks, it’s about whittling down the massive number of tracks, and other weeks, it’s about finding enough to fill out this whole list. Rest assured that this week falls into the former camp.
No, the big question on my mind was how to categorise some of these tracks. With three categories, there’s both a ton of wiggle room and a lot of specificity that goes into this playlist. What truly makes a song fall into the category of “folk”? What actually differentiates an “indie” song from an “alternative” song? Where is the synthpop category? Man, I would have killed for a synthpop category this week.
That’s because two titans of the genre – Future Islands and Chvrches – both released killer tracks that wound up in the “alternative and rock” genre tag. Just as well, the songs from Truth Club, Diners, Career Woman, and Wild Nothing could easily have flipped into other categories as the lines between different genres become increasingly blurry. But ultimately, the categories don’t actually matter all that much: if a song is in this playlist anywhere, it’s pretty good.
We had some killer album releases this week, including great new LPs from the likes of Tribes, Hozier, the Osees, and Fiddlehead. In fact, if you want to check out the best of the new albums, you can check out our Alternative Album Chart, that’s stacked full of goodies just waiting to be discovered. Otherwise, if you’re looking for a quick fix, we’ve got you covered with the best new singles of the week.
From Sufjan Stevens to The National to Mac DeMarco, there is once more a smorgasbord of surprises from the music world and a few emerging talents to boot. Here are all the best singles from the week of August 18th.
The best new songs this week:
Best folk songs:
Sufjan Stevens – ‘So You Are Tired’: Any return is a welcome sight for Sufjan Stevens. The iconic American folkie is back with a mix of stark imagery and lush orchestration on his latest single, ‘So You Are Tired’. There’s only one person who can make music as heartbreaking and beautiful as this, and it’s Stevens. (4.5/5)
Kristin Hersch – ‘Constance Street’: Throwing Muses leader Kristin Hersch is a certified legend in the alt-rock and indie community, having formed the foundation that supported the genre’s boom in the early 1990s. Whatever she puts out is worth paying attention to, and the haunting new single ‘Constance Street’ is just another winning track from someone who knows a thing or two about making good music. (4/5)
Truth Club ft. Indigo de Souza – ‘Exit Cycle’: Channeling the same energy that they put into their debut LP Not An Exit, American rockers Truth Club move away from post-punk and into something more introspective (without sacrificing a hefty heap of darkness) on their latest track ‘Exit Cycle’. Extra special bonus points because Indigo de Souza rocks. (3.5/5)
Best new indie songs:
The National – ‘Space Invader’: It’s somewhat remarkable that, after more than two decades together, The National somehow just keep getting better and better. They’re more comfortable with their sounds than they’ve ever been, and with a whole new host of curious fans thanks to the Taylor Swift bump guitarist Aaron Dessner has brought in with him, The National are taking advantage of it with the sweeping epic ‘Space Invader’. (4.5/5)
86TVs – ‘Worn Out Buildings’: Debut singles aren’t easy. You have to set the tone of your group without painting yourself into a corner. It’s tricky business, but 86TVs, the new collaboration between The Maccabees brothers Felix, Hugo, and Will White plus The Noisettes’ Jamie Morrison, finds just the right tone on their first public track, ‘Work Out Buildings’. (4/5)
Diners – ‘Working on My Dreams’: If you want high-quality guitar rock, then Blue Broderick has been hiding in plain sight for a full decade. As Diners, Broderick just released her seventh studio album, DOMINO, this Friday. It rocks, just like ‘Working on My Dreams’ and everything else she does. (4/5)
Another Michael – ‘Candle’: Not to sound like an old man, but indie kids don’t usually mean much to me. They’ve single-handedly brought back the moustache, which is unforgivable, and there seems to be a weird circle-jerk going on where everyone’s trying to sound the same. Another Michael might fall into those same parameters, but at least they’ve got a really good song on their hands with ‘Candle’. (3.5/5)
Eyedress ft. Mac DeMarco – ‘The Dark Prince’: It’s the collision of bedroom pop and jizz-jazz. Eyedress and Mac DeMarco have been your most annoying friend’s favourite artists for the past decade and change, but credit where credit is due – ‘The Dark Prince’ synthesises the best elements of their respective styles together for a solid new track. (3.5/5)
Best new alternative and rock songs:
Future Islands – ‘Deep In The Night’: Baltimore’s proudest sons Future Islands have been making bright and shiny synthpop acceptable for the indie crowd for (*checks notes*) almost 20 years?!? Seriously? Well, just like a fine wine (and The National), they’re only getting better with age, and ‘Deep In The Night’ is a perfect blend of swirling ’80s keyboards and a delicate crooning classic. (4/5)
Career Woman – ‘Passing’: Career Woman probably should go over into the “indie” genre, but that’s usually a pretty dense corner of this playlist to occupy. Instead, let’s give kudos to Melody Caudill, who has been making killer tracks for almost half a decade despite the fact that she’s not even old enough to (legally) drink in the US. ‘Passing’ is another great addition to an upward-moving canon. (4/5)
Chvrches – ‘Manhattan’: If the hard-hitting synths on the newest Chvrches single ‘Manhattan’ sound like a throwback to the band’s 2013 debut, The Bones of What You Believe, then you’ve got a good ear. To celebrate that album’s 10th anniversary, the Scottish synthpop trio have dusted off this outtake from the LP, one of the first songs that the band ever worked on together, and give it a modern polish. (3.5/5)
Wild Nothing ft. Hatchie – ‘Headlights On’: It’s always summer wherever Jack Tatum is. The musician/producer better known for making music under the moniker Wild Nothing might be staring down the end of the heat wave season, but if the new track ‘Headlights On’ has anything to say about it, the summer might just never end. (3.5/5)
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